A new opening, closing, and a tale of two halves is what episode twenty-seven has to offer.

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Uchuu Kyoudai has now started off on a new phase of the series, as evidenced by the series’ third opening and closing animation and theme. The final examination for the astronauts took place during the last episode and here at the beginning of episode twenty-seven, we continued off on the cliffhanger of Nanba confronting Azuma. One of Mutta’s supposed obstacles towards passing the final exam is now before him, and after only receiving marginal background info on Azuma to date, we’re finally given some real development to this character from his point of view. As cold and neutral as he’s made out to seem so far, the real glimpse into Azuma’s character is one that is quite similar to the rest of the astronauts who all share the same love for space. Though others mistake his attitude, we saw in the flashback that deceased astronaut Brian Jay knew the real Azuma and recognized him. It’s also in this flashback that we got a nice bridge between what Azuma would use to determine Mutta’s qualifications. 

The question that Azuma used to test Mutta’s qualifications is one that holds great significance for his character, as it was the same question Brian Jay used to measure Azuma’s mentality towards space travel. Though Mutta appeared to have failed it at first, due to his bold claim that he was prepared to die, we saw that Mutta’s true character shone through once again. Despite being born on the day of Agony, Mutta’s luck came through for him once again and it’s more than assured that Azuma had cleared Mutta in the final exam. Premature celebrations aside, it’s going to be exciting to see the build up to the final announcement of his passing. 

However, that was for the entire first half of this episode. As stated in the opening statement of the review, this latest episode is an tale of two halves. The second half of the episode just wasn’t as entertaining as the first half. It was interesting to see the infamous Zidane headbutt animated in this episode, but the flashback to the Nanba brothers’ childhood, and subsequent reunion of the Nanba family, just didn’t do much for me. 

Hibito’s launch into space is just a few episodes away, and with the final exam for JAXA out of the way, new challenges are sure to spring up for Mutta and co. There’s a lot to wonder where the series will go on from here, but Uchuu Kyoudai has rarely been a series to disappoint. 

GO Rating: 3/5

With more good memories to come!